Eye of the Beholder
by Mackie
Summary: A crossover with the movie "Vamp."


Disclaimer: Quantum Leap belongs to Bellisarius Productions and Universal Television; Vamp is owned by New World Pictures and Balcor Films, and starred Robert Rusler and Chris Makepeace.

****

Eye of the Beholder  
by [Linda S. Maclaren][1]

"...gimme your wallet or die!"

The menacing words barely penetrated Sam Beckett's consciousness amid the multitude of other perceptions assailing him: The liquor-soured breath of the speaker, whose shaggy, pock-scarred face was thrust to within an inch of Sam's startled eyes; the hand gripped tightly across his throat, cutting off his breath; the knife pricking the skin just under his left eye; the cold brick wall against his back -- these physical cues were Sam's first unsettling impressions of his latest leap. These, and the irrelevant fact that it was night, the only light a dim glow from a lamp pole several yards to his left.

"Well, college boy?" the man hissed. "What'll it be?"

Sam struggled to speak past the constriction around his throat. "The wallet, of course," he gasped hoarsely, reaching for his pockets. He was more surprised than afraid. After all, months of leaping in and out of scores of personae had prepared him for the unexpected. He was a quick, logical thinker, and in addition to his numerous academic degrees, he was well versed in several forms of self-defense...

The next few seconds passed in a blur he never would be able to recount with precise accuracy, for these seconds shattered one of his most profound convictions and provoked the first totally overwhelming terror he had ever experienced.

A stark white hand, the skin so eerily translucent it shone icy blue in the murky glow of the lamp, reached out of the darkness and gripped the mugger's knife hand. Fingernails -- grotesquely transmogrified into feral, yellow claws -- dug deeply into the man's flesh, instantly drawing blood. Stunned, both Sam and his attacker turned, the latter whimpering in pain and fright. A face grinned at them, but it was a mockery of human features. The hideously leering mouth glistened with long, needle-like fangs, and blood-shot, yellow eyes glared at them out of a deathly pallor.

"Hi!" the apparition greeted cheerfully.

Sam had only a glimpse of this nightmarish atrocity, then the mugger was wrenched effortlessly away. The man managed a strangled whine of terror before falling victim to the appalling abhorrence.

The panic welled up from the very core of Sam's spirit. His legs would not hold him, and he slid helplessly down the wall, unable to tear his eyes away from the terrible scene before him. The mugger struggled briefly, then gradually slumped lifeless in the arms of his attacker. The gruesome feast concluded, the monster that had saved Sam's life discarded the flaccid husk of its prey and turned around.

Sam felt another shock course through his already overstressed senses. Gone was the ghastly face. Instead, Sam stared into the deep brown eyes of a devilishly handsome young man. About six feet tall and well-built, the man was dressed in dark slacks, a gray silk shirt unbuttoned at the collar, and a jacket patterned in black and gray weave, the sleeves pushed up past the elbows. Sam's mental haze sluggishly fixed a time period: He was somewhere in the mid- to late-80's.

But what of the repulsive monster he was so certain he'd seen? Sam felt only numb confusion.

The young man reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief. "Now _that_ was radical!" he exulted, delicately wiping his lips.

Sam just stared, aghast. He couldn't find his voice and wouldn't have known what to say anyway.

His companion frowned and looked down at his jacket front. "The threads are all right, aren't they?" he asked. "No blood or anything? This is the last good jacket I have." Sam just shook his head in mute bewilderment.

The young man's expression turned to concern. "Hey, buddy, you OK?" He took a step forward, and Sam scrambled to his feet in alarm, the panic still surging inside him, the block wall at his back an impenetrable barrier defeating his instinct to escape.

The young man stopped, confused and hurt. "Keith?" he asked uncertainly. Sam's panic faded slowly as he realized he was in no danger. Now, he faced his own uncertainty -- had he seen what he'd thought he'd seen?

"I'm OK," he murmured hoarsely, and deliberately pushed away from the wall. He forced himself to walk to the corpse of the mugger and crouched to confirm what his senses had already told him -- the lifeless form was bloodless, the fluid apparently extracted through two deep puncture wounds in the jugular. Sam's entire body felt weak and cold with shock. He looked at his rescuer, and tried to comprehend what had happened in the past few minutes. His intellect argued that what he had witnessed could not possibly be the truth.

"What?" the young man asked, exasperated.

Sam groped for something to say. "This will be hard to explain," he managed at last.

"Oh." The young man grinned, all at once looking incredibly boyish and guileless. He chuckled. "You know, I think this guy was tanked. I feel great."

Sam realized he wasn't going to get any help or useful information. He found the mugger's knife and picked it up. Grimacing with distaste, and hoping he was doing the right thing, he steeled himself. Forcing the blade into the first neck wound, he drew the knife across the dead man's throat, widening the gash. He repeated the maneuver with the second wound. Any evidence of -- could he bring himself to even think it? - the knife wounds might obscure the fang marks.

Throughout Sam's gruesome task, the young man watched intently. "Hey, good idea," he congratulated. "Cops'll chalk it up to another one of those cult killings."

Sam looked at his companion. "It won't disguise what really happened if they look past the obvious. A thorough post-mortem will turn up the fang marks and evidence of saliva in the wounds."

"Yeah? You pick up the most amazing facts, Keith."

"Necessity being the mother of invention and all that," Sam returned with an edge of bitterness. He'd had some strange incarnations in his quantum leaps, but this was by far the most bizarre, not to mention the most macabre.

The young man's expression became belligerent. "Keith, I told you before I've never killed anyone. Remember, this guy was about to skewer you. I've saved your hide three times now, and I think I deserve a little more trust, OK?"

Sam stood up. He was still a bit shaky, but no longer gripped by helpless fear. Still, he found it difficult to look at his companion. "Now what?"

"Now we party."

Sam couldn't believe what he'd heard. "We what?"

"Hey, we came down here to have a good time, right, buddy? Why let a little mugging dull our party spirits?" He started to throw a companionable arm around Sam's shoulder, but Sam stepped back involuntarily, then grimaced.

"I'm sorry." He didn't get a response. The young man's face reflected his bewildered distress. Sam felt sudden compassion. "Are you all right?"

The young man looked at him and laughed, a hoarse, humorless sound. "Sure, I'm just fine. I'm a fucking vampire, Keith! That's hard enough to deal with, but it's even harder when your best friend thinks you're abhorrent."

"I don't think you're abhorrent," Sam protested weakly, lying but thinking no one could be expected to adapt to this particular leap in the blink of an eye. "But this is all kind of new to me, too, remember?"

The young man's mood shifted again. He grinned. "OK, then let's go." This time, Sam didn't flinch from the arm around his shoulder. As they walked out of the alley, his companion became positively cheerful. "We should do this more often, you know. We could pick on the dregs of society. I could call myself the 'Fanged Fury'. What'd'ya think?"

Sam chuckled nervously. "I hope that was a joke," he returned feebly.

The club was called "Sandy's" and it was located just a few doors down the sidewalk. They went in to a confusion of lights and noise. A live dance band pounded out a frantic paean to sex -- the lyrics didn't seem to have anything to do with love - and they compensated with volume for what they lacked in talent. The place was crowded with young people, the central core writhing on the dance floor, the rest gathered at the fringes, their bodies packed so closely they swayed as one to the beat. Bright strobes slashed through the group from overhead, their colors pulsating in perfect rhythm.

"Hey, isn't this great?" the young man shouted at Sam, who barely heard him above the ear-shattering decibels of the band. Sam just nodded, feeling he didn't have the strength to engage in a screaming match just for the sake of conversation.

There was a long mirror behind the drinks bar but he was too busy trying to keep up with his companion to worry about what his current persona looked like. He trailed through the gyrating masses, past the dance floor and up a metal staircase toward a second level located behind the bandstand. It was much quieter here than on the lower level.

"Actually, the band's lousy," the young man continued. "Who are we kidding, right? But with the only civilization two hundred miles away, we don't have a hell of a lot of choice."

They reached the second-level landing. Little glass-topped, wrought-iron tables were clustered tightly around the room, and most of them were occupied by couples and groups taking a break between dances.

Sam was suddenly embraced in a tight hug, and he focused on the pretty blonde girl in front of him. "You took your sweet time," she complained.

"Keith managed to get himself mugged while I was parking your car," the young man explained, handing her a set of car keys.

She looked at Sam in concern. "Are you all right?"

"Yes," Sam replied with a wan smile. "The Fanged Fury rescued me."

The girl grinned at Sam's companion. "AJ -- the Fanged Fury? Good Lord."

The young man -- Sam now knew his name was AJ - grinned back and took her hand. "The first dance is mine, Allison," he said with a proprietary air. "You don't mind, do you, buddy?"

Allison planted a quick kiss on Sam's mouth. "That's our table over there, where my suede jacket is. Guard it 'til we get back, OK?" She gripped Sam's hand briefly as AJ started back down the steps. "Don't worry -- I'll save all the slow dances for you," she promised him, obediently following AJ. Her voice drifted back to Sam. "Remember, AJ, no kissing if you've been snacking."

Sam took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. He located the table Allison had reserved with her jacket, then turned around to look down at the dance floor. Already, Allison and AJ had been swallowed up by the mass of bodies, but he managed to find them after a bit. They appeared to be enjoying themselves, but Sam was more interested in confirming something. Was AJ really a vampire -- and Sam couldn't believe it for a moment, despite the evidence of his eyes -- or were he and Keith and Allison all caught up in some sick hallucination? Sam got his bearings on the dancing couple, then switched his eyes to the mirror behind the lower-level bar. It took him only a moment to shatter his earlier certainty -- Allison was there, dancing up a storm amid the confusion of dancers, but she was all alone. There was no reflection of AJ visible in the mirror.

Sam walked dazedly to the table and slumped into a chair. A waitress in a skin-tight black jumpsuit stopped beside him. "Drinks?"

"I'll have a beer," Sam said, feeling that not only did he deserve it, but for one of the few times in his life feeling as if he really needed it.

The girl frowned. "ID?"

Sam rethought quickly. "Sorry, make it a coke, please. Three of them."

The waitress smiled. "Thanks for not making it difficult, Keith. I know Allison sneaks you booze when she's working, but I really need this job."

"That's OK," Sam returned. "It's my fault -- I just wasn't thinking."

The girl's smile turned into a broad grin. "I'll start a tab for you," she promised, and disappeared toward the bar at the back of the room that serviced this upper level.

"Sam, you're not gonna believe this," said a voice from behind him.

Sam turned around quickly and felt an almost overwhelming surge of relief. "Al," he gasped.

"The guy you're supposed to be thinks his best friend is a vampire."

Sam answered wearily. "He is."

Al sank into the chair next to Sam, or rather his holographic image did, which was almost the same thing. "You mean AJ is actually practicing vampirism?" he asked in amazement. "Jeez, he's really sick."

Sam knew he had to convince Al of the truth, which he himself had accepted only moments ago. "Al, go over to the railing and look in the mirror behind the downstairs bar."

"What?"

"Look at AJ in the mirror."

Al got up and did what he was told. He stood at the railing for a long, long time, occasionally looking bemusedly over his shoulder at Sam before returning his gaze to the mirror. When he returned to his seat, he was a very subdued man. "Sam, we've got a problem."

Sam chuckled at the understatement. "You're telling me."

"No, I mean vampires don't exist. We _know_ vampires don't exist. Ziggy knows vampires don't exist. How do we build data on something that doesn't exist?"

Sam shook his head, then rested his elbow on the table to cradle his chin in his hand. Talking to Al, who was invisible to anyone over the age of five, wouldn't look quite so obvious. "I don't know. Build a database using theoretical parameters? What have we got so far?"

"So far, nothing," Al returned. "It took us this long to find you. I think Ziggy's heading for a major meltdown. We had a lot of trouble locating you, and then Ziggy could never seem to center me in the right place. We finally just winged it and calculated a half-bubble off plumb, if you know what I mean."

"I love it when you talk technical," Sam observed dryly.

"Anyway, up until thirty seconds ago, I figured your job was to convince AJ he's not a vampire. Now, I haven't a clue."

"Has Keith been able to tell you anything?" Sam asked, thinking this was unlikely due to the shock usually suffered by his counterparts, who leaped out as Sam leaped in.

"Oh, yeah, we can't shut him up," Al replied to Sam's surprise. "He says he's gotta get back here 'cause he's afraid AJ's gonna off himself."

"Wonderful," Sam murmured. "A suicidal vampire." The waitress returned with the drinks and set them on the table. Sam smiled his thanks, but it was a pretty dismal effort. She looked at him curiously, probably wondering at his sudden glum turn, then smiled sympathetically before going off to handle her other tables.

"Yeah, and have you thought about whether or not you want to save him -- er, it?" Al queried. "Maybe you're really here to help ease AJ out of his misery."

"No!" Sam objected heatedly, suddenly grateful the club was crowded and noisy. No one would notice a young madman apparently arguing with himself. "I've never leaped in to kill anyone."

"No, not specifically, but sometimes saving someone has required you to kill someone else."

"Don't get pedantic!" Sam shot back angrily. He calmed himself with effort. "Sorry, Al."

Al shrugged. "It's OK," he said. "This leap's a little weird for both of us."

"Did Keith tell you how AJ became a vampire?"

"Yeah. The story's a bit muddled, but it looks as if Keith and AJ went to hire a stripper for some sort of frat party back at the beginning of the semester -- which, by the way, was almost exactly a month ago. They stumbled into a place called the After Dark Club, filled with hungry vampires." Al shivered at the imagery this conjured in his fertile imagination. "Apparently, these vampires only went after transients and loners. They goofed, nailed AJ, and tossed him out with the garbage. Then, when Keith started nosing around, they reanimated AJ to deal with him. Instead, Keith dealt with the bunch of them, destroying the club in the process."

"Keith sounds like quite a guy," Sam said in open admiration. "I guess after what he's been through, adapting to a simple thing like a leap has been pretty easy for him."

"Easier for him than for you, by the sound of it," Al agreed. "Oops, watch it, Sam. Vampire at nine o'clock."

AJ was by himself when he came up to the table. He sank into the chair across from Sam and buried his head in his arms. "Man, I used to enjoy this," he said forlornly, his voice muffled by his arms. "Now when I look at a beautiful woman, all I can see is that little pulse point in her throat." He lifted his head and glowered at Sam. "I think I'm losing interest in sex!" he complained, as if somehow this was all Sam's fault. Abruptly, he grinned disarmingly at Al. "Hi!" he greeted brightly.

Startled, Al did a bit of classic shtick, automatically looking over both shoulders to see if AJ was talking to someone behind him. There was no one there. He looked back at AJ. "Hi," he ventured uncertainly.

"Friend of yours, Keith?"

Sam was just as shaken as Al. "Yeah. Al, AJ -- AJ, Al."

AJ stuck out a friendly hand. "Pleased to meet you."

To Al's credit, he didn't flinch. Instead, he stood up. "Sorry, I never shake hands on the first date." He didn't mention that he wouldn't have been able to do so anyway -- holograms not being able to shake hands with anything. He looked at Sam. "Uh, see you around, Keith," he said.

"Bye," Sam said, sorry to see him go. He had a thousand questions still begging answers.

Al retreated with alacrity, careful not to walk through any of the patrons clustered around the bar. Luckily, AJ didn't watch him for long. "Weird guy," he said to Sam. "He one of your professors?"

"Would you believe quantum physics?"

AJ laughed. "What every future CPA needs to know."

Sam laughed with him. "It's all math to me."

AJ's mood changed abruptly, which Sam figured was pretty much the norm these days. He felt as if he were being dragged along on an emotional rollercoaster; it was hard keeping up with AJ's mercurial highs and lows.

"Let's get out of here."

"What about Allison?"

"She went to powder her nose or something," AJ said, getting up. "She'll be all right."

Sam had no choice but to follow him. He took out his wallet and tossed some bills on the table next to the untouched cokes, then realized AJ's mood had shifted because he had noticed the three glasses. Sam grimaced; AJ would not be into drinking sodapop.

They met Allison at the top of the stairs, but AJ just hugged her briefly and slipped past her. She stopped Sam with a frown of concern. "Leaving already?"

"Sorry," Sam apologized. "You know how he gets."

"Yeah, poor guy," Allison said sadly, although to which one of them she was referring was anyone's guess. "Bummer. See you tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?" Sam repeated blankly.

"Sunday -- picnic in the woods -- meet you in front of your dorm at eleven?" She shook her head at his forgetfulness. "Keith, you need to work at getting more sleep. Keeping up with your own class schedule and covering AJ's day courses is making you a basket case." She giggled. "Or is that 'casket' case?"

"Very funny," Sam returned defensively. "I can handle it." He knew Keith would handle it -- his calm acceptance of the leap was proof of that.

"It's only been a month," Allison said gently. "How are you going to get through the whole semester -- and the next four years?"

Sam shrugged. "We'll manage," he said more softly. "Eleven in front of the dorm. Got it." With this promise, he started to give her a little kiss, but she grabbed him ad planted a full-blown lip lock that left him breathless.

"Don't forget," she whispered against his lips before letting him go.

"No chance of that," he assured her, reluctantly drawing his attention back to more immediate matters and hurrying down the stairs to find AJ.

He fought his way through the throng on the lower floor, then gratefully breathed fresh air as he exited onto the sidewalk. AJ was already a half block away. Sam ran to catch up with him. They walked in silence, AJ's hands thrust into his pockets, his head bent. Their footfalls echoed on the cement as they walked past the alley where Sam had been mugged. It was still silent; the dead man had yet to be discovered. There were only a few people on the sidewalk, and the couples Sam saw were heading rapidly in the opposite direction, back toward the bright lights of the boulevard and the club.

They headed into darkness. "Are we going any place in particular?" Sam asked as last.

AJ stopped and leaned against the wall of a small, run-down residential hotel. There were no streetlights here, and the road and walks were deserted. "You know," he said irrelevantly, "lately I've started looking very closely at picket fences."

It took Sam a minute to find meaning in the remark. "Man, don't talk like that."

AJ shook his head, dismissing Sam's plea. His voice was quiet and curiously flat. "Keith, you're my best friend, but when this thing first happened to me, I almost killed you."

"But you didn't," Sam pointed out reasonably.

"I think I'm still changing," AJ went on, wonder and revulsion evident in his tone. "Like tonight -- dancing with Allison. I started fantasizing about the blood coursing through her veins, you know? What if I get to the point where I can't tell friend from food?"

"It won't happen," Sam answered with more assurance than he felt. In the few vampire movies he'd seen, the vampire always had a faithful servant. Then again, how much authoritative research had ever been done?

AJ walked on, more slowly now, Sam beside him. "Man, look at us. I'm still in school because that's the only way my scholarship money gets paid --- if and when it gets paid," he added parenthetically, his thoughts momentarily diverting to this new tack before resuming course. "But what's the point? Am I really going to get my medical degree? Besides the fact that I'll probably chow down on my patients, what doctor do you know whose office hours are from dusk to dawn?"

"That's a long way down the road," Sam countered inanely. "We just take it one day at a time."

"And what about you, good buddy?" AJ went on after a moment. "What sort of normal life are you going to have? Are you going to get married, have a couple of kids, live in the suburbs -- and keep a vampire in the cellar?" He mimicked Keith's voice. "Dear, I forgot to mention we have to get married at midnight so my best man can be at the wedding. Did I tell you he looks great in a tux?"

Sam laughed in spite of himself. It was hard not to like AJ, a handsome, intelligent, confident young man whose life had suddenly been derailed by circumstances that defied logical explanation. Sam had the feeling AJ was one of those lucky people whom fortune had always favored, making him ill prepared to handle this bizarre detour in his life. Keith, on the other hand, seemed to be stronger, more able to adapt and bounce back. Or maybe, as he'd said, AJ was still "changing", and his mood swings from euphoria to depression were the result of the physical changes wracking his body.

Sam abruptly realized they were on campus, but it didn't look like any college campus he'd ever seen. The physical touches were right -- venerable, ivy-covered towers of academia, the beautifully manicured grounds, the fountains, statues, benches and pathways that helped make a college campus seem a place of tranquility. But the ambience was wrong. There were very few people about, and the few Sam saw were hurrying almost frantically toward their destinations. Sam figured he and AJ looked totally out of place as they strolled nonchalantly across the grass.

"You know what I miss?" AJ asked as they entered one of the old brick dorms and started up the polished wooden stairs.

"What?"

"Corned beef and cabbage."

"You're kidding."

They left the stairs at the second floor and walked down a linoleum-tiled hall. About half way down the corridor, AJ stopped to fish out his keys and open the door to one of the rooms. Sam automatically followed him inside and closed the door. This was always a tricky part in a leap -- was this also Sam's room, or was he expected to go elsewhere for the night?

It was a typical dorm room, cluttered with textbooks, clothes, stereo system, records and the detritus of college life. It had an orderly neatness about it, however, despite the clutter. Sam noticed the windows were tightly shuttered, and a 24-hour clock sat prominently on the desk. It read 0213.

AJ sprawled in the only comfortable chair. "My mom used to fix it at least once a month. Dad always said it reminded him of his background -- poverty that honed the self-made man and all that. I used to hate it. Funny how your head works when you can't have certain things, huh?"

"Yeah." Sam approached the refrigerator with trepidation and cautiously opened the door. It wasn't quite as bad as he'd anticipated. There were several opaque cartons marked LAB WORK, DO NOT OPEN, some canned goods, sodapop and a package of moldy cheese.

"Pasta," AJ said suddenly.

Sam jumped. "What?"

"Spaghetti and meat sauce with lots of garlic. Remember how you used to fix it?"

"Yeah."

"Hey, is there any of that B-positive left?"

"Uh, I'll check," Sam murmured. He pulled out one of the cartons and peered uncertainly inside. As he'd expected, it was a plastic couch of whole blood. Where Keith -- or perhaps AJ -- was scrounging it from was a mystery because there were no labels on the bag to denote its origin. Sam picked it out of the carton and wondered what he was supposed to do next.

AJ leaned back and closed his eyes. "That drunk who tried to roll you tonight gave me an idea. If I can drink alcohol that way, why not add something a little spicy to the traditional brew?"

Sam cringed. "You want me to pour this over some spaghetti?"

AJ chuckled. "No. How about adding some flavor to remind me of that great sauce you used to make. Toss in some garlic before you nuke it, OK?"

"OK." Sam located the garlic powder above the sink, found several large soup mugs in the dish drain, and poured the blood into one of them. Feeling his stomach recoil at the prospect, he dumped in a liberal dose of the garlic powder before putting the cup inside the microwave. There was a temperature probe inside, so he had no difficulty deducing the program for heating the strange brew to 98 degrees.

He switched on the oven and resolutely turned his back on its repulsive contents, then stared in baffled surprise.

AJ was still sitting in the chair, but now he had an apple on top of his head. He grinned and pointed toward it. "Wanna take a shot?"

Sam shook his head dumbly. "Pass."

AJ sighed at his friend's unwillingness to play. He took the apple off his head and tossed it to Sam, who caught it as if fielding an alien life form and set it quickly on the kitchen counter. Then, in an effort to forestall any further lunacy from his companion, he fetched a soda from the refrigerator and sat down at the desk.

"That garlic nonsense is one of those fallacies the world clings to," AJ said, settling back and closing his eyes again. "Like crosses -- it's not the cross that wards off vampires, but the faith of the person who wields it."

"What about your faith, AJ?" Sam asked curiously.

"Me? I was always too busy chasing cheerleaders and being all-varsity." AJ chuckled. "You, too."

"I could never keep up with you, though," Sam said, instinctively knowing he was right. Keith was the acquiescent follower to AJ's more flamboyant style; but Keith was also the real strength in the friendship, the one who would keep his best friend in line...most of the time anyway.

"Lucky you." AJ opened his eyes and looked at Sam. "You thought about what we discussed last week?"

"Of course," Sam lied, knowing he was back on shaky ground.

"You have an answer yet?"

"Not yet. There's still time."

"Time," AJ echoed emptily. "Yeah."

The microwave timer buzzed, and Sam remembered what he'd been cooking up. He reluctantly fetched it and handed it to his companion, who took the cup and sniffed the contents with a grimace.

"No good?" Sam asked.

"No, it's fine," AJ assured him. He raised the cup in a toast. "I have seen the future -- and it sucks." He drank the contents down quickly without pausing for breath, and Sam turned away, revulsion making his stomach heave.

AJ finished and stood up. "A little early for bed, but what the hell," he commented. He rinsed the cup and put it aside on the drain, then headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Sam blurted involuntarily.

"To bed." AJ enunciated the two words very carefully, as if Sam had not been able to comprehend him the first time. "Oh, remind me to get a trowel, will you? That damned dirt is getting lumpy."

"Yeah," Sam said weakly. "A trowel." He followed AJ to the door, where his friend stopped and turned to face him. AJ's expression was remarkably gentle and full of love. "Keith, you know I never would have gotten through the last few weeks without your help," he said in what Sam perceived to be a rare moment of selflessness.

Sam was dumbstruck for a long moment. "We're going to get through this," he promised finally, knowing AJ was looking for some much-needed reassurance.

AJ's seriousness dissolved into a grin. "Sure we are," he agreed, then gave a jaunty salute before striding off down the hall.

He passed a couple of returning students without a glance, but Sam noticed them step hastily to one side, giving AJ a wide path. They watched as AJ entered the stairwell, then turned toward Sam and smiled nervously before retreating into their own room further down the hall. With a chill, Sam noted they were both wearing prominent crosses on heavy chains around their necks.

He closed the door thoughtfully and turned around, then nearly yelped in surprise to find Al surveying the room with an appreciative eye.

"This brings back memories, Sam," Al said with relish. "Sneaking girls into the dorm after dark, the all-night parties, the panty raids -- "

"Al," Sam interrupted, "can we get on with business?"

"Sure," Al agreed, sighing, "but you'd better sit down."

Sam flopped into the overstuffed chair and braced for the worst, although he could not begin to imagine what that could be. "Tell me."

"First, we had the same trouble with Ziggy again," Al began in a peeved tone, as if blaming Sam for the inconvenience. He paced the room while he talked. "Every time I tried to center on you, I ended up somewhere else." He stopped and sighed again. "Ah, well."

It was all right for Al to sigh, Sam reflected. What if Ziggy really packed it in, and Al couldn't center on him at all? The thought of losing his one tenuous thread with his own time was frightening.

"Anyway, we turned up something interesting on AJ and Keith," Al went on, consulting his hand-held viewer. "Or rather, we didn't turn up something, which was interesting in itself."

"Al," Sam interrupted patiently, "you're blithering."

Al looked affronted. "I thought I was being perfectly clear."

Now it was Sam's turn to sigh. "You were. I'm just tired, that's all."

Mollified, Al took pity and got back to business. "Seems like AJ and Keith disappeared off the face of the earth the night they went to the After Dark Club. Also a Japanese student named Duncan, who was with them as a condition of their borrowing his car." Al frowned thoughtfully. "The After Dark Club. That sounds familiar, Sam. Does it mean anything to you?"

"Not a thing," Sam answered. "Was Duncan's car ever found?"

"No. Anyway, Keith told me Duncan is dead. He got turned into a vampire, and Keith barbecued him." Sam grimaced at the unpleasant image, but Al continued matter-of-factly. "What I don't understand, Sam, is how they could have disappeared a month ago when they're so obviously here -- attending classes, going to discos, draining blood from hapless victims."

Sam didn't have an answer, so he dismissed the incongruities for the time being. "What about Allison?"

"Well, from what we could find out, Allison Hicks disappeared from the city just over five weeks ago. She was not a student here at the college. She had quit her job the day before her disappearance, so the police weren't too concerned about finding her despite her parents' insistence that something had happened to her. Her only connection with Keith and AJ is they apparently were all in summer camp together 'way back when."

Sam frowned, trying to make sense of it. He couldn't. "There's something I need to find out from Keith," he said after a bit. "It's something he and AJ talked about sometime last week."

Al's mood became somber. "Yeah."

"He already told you?"

Al looked reluctant to continue the conversation and resumed his pacing. "Well, Sam, you know vampires live a long, long time -- hundreds of years, maybe more."

"Unless someone drives a wooden stake through their heart, burns 'em up, or exposes them to sunlight," Sam amended.

"Ah, that's not quite the entire story," Al explained, grateful for the shift in topic. "Sunlight will do 'em in for sure, but so will keeping the vampire out of his coffin past sunrise. It's a lot slower than exposure to direct sunlight, but it's just as certain. Apparently, the time involved is directly proportional to the strength of the vampire."

"So you're saying it would be risky just to stuff AJ into a closet or under the bed until the sun went down."

Al nodded. "Yep."

Sam filed away this information and got back to the previous subject. "The discussion they had last week?" he prompted.

Al frowned with distaste. "AJ doesn't want to cope with the next few centuries without his best friend by his side, if you get my drift."

The chill that stabbed through Sam had nothing to do with the air temperature. "AJ wants Keith to become a vampire, too?"

"Got it in one," Al agreed.

What would Keith do? Sam wondered. Somehow, he had to spare the young man from ever having to make that horrible, inevitably damning decision. Which brought up the question that had been nagging him from the beginning: "Al, what exactly am I doing here?"

Al shook his head in helpless ignorance. "I don't know, Sam. We tried your theoretical projection, but Ziggy's answers are too vague to be useful."

"I want to help AJ," Sam said with conviction. "I'd like to cure him."

"I think that's a little beyond your medical scope," Al observed skeptically. "It could take years to determine the cause of the affliction and find a cure."

"Well, until we figure out what I'm supposed to do, I'm stuck here!" Sam said with a rare flash of anger. A new thought intruded, draining his anger and replacing it with dread. "Al, you don't think I've leaped in to make the decision for Keith, do you?"

Al's expression was sympathetic. "Maybe something very like that," he agreed softly, his voice filled with compassion. "Sam, did it occur to you that maybe you're not supposed to save AJ? Maybe you're really here to save Keith."

Sam pondered the idea. It was a possibility, but one he shied from. To judge by all the evidence, the real Keith was bright and resourceful. And he loved AJ. To what extremes was he willing to go to save his best friend? Would Sam -- could Sam -- go to those same extremes? "I hope you're wrong, Al. I really like AJ."

"Maybe the way to help him is to help him die with a little dignity," Al pointed out. "Maybe it would be the most merciful thing to do, the same as you'd do for a hopelessly sick or injured animal."

"Except AJ's a man."

"Is he?"

Sam frowned. "He was."

"And you'd be sparing Keith from making a choice that would haunt him for the rest of his life to matter which way he decided."

Sam was suddenly consumed by weariness. "I think I'll have to sleep on it, Al," he said. "Maybe Allison will be able to tell me something useful. I'm seeing her tomorrow."

"OK," Al agreed sympathetically. "In the meantime, I'll keep talking to Keith." He smiled suddenly. "You know, Keith is a pretty special young man. He's smart, cool, quick on the uptake -- he kinda reminds me of you. Except at his age, you were an impossible nerd."

"Thanks," Sam returned sarcastically. "But go easy on him, Al. He's going through a lot right now."

"And you're going through it right along with him." Al pushed a code into the handset, and the bright door of the imaging chamber opened behind him. He looked reluctant to leave, but Sam clearly wanted to be alone. "Good night, Sam."

"Good night, Al."

The door shut with a finality that left Sam feeling unaccountably sad. Determined not to wallow in the useless emotion, he got up from the chair.

At least Keith was a fairly neat housekeeper, and Sam didn't find any objections in the neatly made beds (one for roommate AJ, obviously, but unused these past weeks). He poked into drawers and cupboards. There was evidence AJ did live here, probably using the dorm as a place to shower and change between his nocturnal sojourns.

To himself, Sam admitted he would be glad to see daylight. He simply couldn't think clearly with the knowledge that a vampire -- a real, flesh-and-blood (emphasis on the "blood", please) vampire -- was peering over his shoulder, figuratively if not in actuality. And Keith was with him, too -- he could feel his counterpart's presence more acutely than he had in any of his other leaps. Sam went into the bathroom and peered at the unfamiliar face in the mirror. A very young face, cute rather than handsome, strained now with worry and exhaustion. But there was determination there as well, a stubborn optimism that defied the odds. Keith didn't look the sort to give up easily.

Abruptly, Sam realized several things. Keith would never agree to becoming a vampire; but he would destroy himself in an effort to save his friend, and the effort would be futile because Keith did not possess the skills or knowledge required to pull off such an incredible feat.

Which hopefully meant Sam Beckett did.

"We're gonna do this," Sam promised the image in the mirror, and he immediately felt better for making the commitment.

He left the bathroom, kicked off his shoes, and stretched out on one of the beds.

Where did Allison fit in? Clearly, she knew the truth about AJ. Maybe she knew about the After Dark Club and what had happened there. He felt assured that she would be able to give him some answers about his purpose here: to help Keith? -- to cure AJ? -- to kill AJ?

This last was unthinkable, but Sam found himself thinking about it anyway as he drifted off into a troubled sleep.

Abruptly, he was awake again, sitting bolt upright in bed and instinctively knowing he's only slept a short time. Why had he awakened? Why had a surge of adrenaline pumped into his bloodstream, rousing him in panic to face -- what?

He got up and shook off the faint nausea caused by the shock to his system. Something tickled at his consciousness. Something -

Barefooted, he ran out of the room, forgetting to close the door behind him. The corridor was silent and empty as he dashed to the stairwell that hopefully would lead him to his destination. The cement was cold and hard underfoot, but he didn't notice these minor discomforts in his haste.

Two young men were coming up the stairs, but Sam slid past them without a pause.

"Hey, Keith, where's the fire?" one called after him.

"Shut up!" the other hissed in warning, urging his companion more quickly up the stairs. With a detached part of his thinking, Sam realized the cautious one had been wearing a cross.

He reached the underground garage and stopped. In the dim glow of overhead lights, he searched among the cars until he found a likely vehicle. It was an old black van, its side windows tinted, a curtain hung behind the front seats to shield the rear area from any prying eyes peering through the windshield. There were no windows in the rear or sides of the cargo area. Sam tried the sliding cargo door. It was locked. Frantically, he searched his pockets until he found a set of keys. Hands trembling, he found one that fit the lock and allowed himself to breathe again as the door slid open under his touch.

He climbed inside and pulled the door closed behind him. It was nearly pitch dark inside, but a little light filtered in around the curtain. As Sam's eyes adjusted to the gloom, he found what he'd expected to find -- a coffin, its varnish gleaming dully. At its foot end, AJ's jacket lay folded neatly.

He realized he was holding his breath again and deliberately took the time to calm himself, fighting the combination of tension and fear seeking to dominate his emotions. This time, however, the fear was not of AJ, but rather for him. With sweating hands, he lifted the lid and pushed it back until it locked in place. Inside, lying in a mocking attitude of peaceful slumber, AJ looked very young; he looked as if he didn't have a care in the world.

Sam reached in and felt for a pulse at AJ's neck (did vampires have pulses? he asked himself, but he didn't know the answer). The gesture became superfluous, however, when AJ's right hand circled Sam's wrist in an iron grip. His eyes flew open, and the two friends stared at each other in shocked surprise.

"Shit!" AJ said at last. "You trying to scare me to death?" He let go of Sam's wrist and sat up. "What time is it?"

"I don't know," Sam replied shakily. "Four, four-thirty, I guess."

"A time when all self-respecting vampires are contemplating dawn and a good day's sleep," AJ pointed out.

"Don't give me that, you arrogant jackass," Sam shot back, not normally prone to profanity. Then he grimaced. "What's that smell?"

"It's the damned antediluvian dirt in this damned coffin," AJ retorted in exasperation. "Think we could try some Lysol?"

"We gotta try something," Sam agreed.

"Now that you've criticized by abode -- and I agree with you, it stinks," AJ went on more placidly, " -- why am I an arrogant jackass?"

"Garlic doesn't work on vampires," Sam snorted derisively. "Isn't that what you said? Only you lied, didn't you? You figured if garlic was repellant to a vampire on the outside, maybe it would do something really nasty if you got some inside. Maybe it would even kill you. Am I right?"

AJ looked away guiltily.

"Well?" Sam prodded.

"Maybe," AJ admitted reluctantly, his voice soft.

"So how are you feeling?"

AJ shrugged, then chuckled without humor. "Fine. Just a touch of what we in the medical profession call mild flatulence."

Sam's anger died as relief washed over him. "That was one hell of a guilt trip you were ready to lay on me," he accused.

"Yeah, and I'm sorry about that," AJ replied. He sounded as if he meant it. "I was feeling kind of desperate." He gestured around the van. "Man, this whole think stinks, and I'm not talking about the odor. The coffin's cramped, and I hate sleeping on my back all the time. My championship tan has faded to nothing, and that self-tanning crap you buy makes me look jaundiced. You're flunking some of your classes because you're trying to cover my day stuff, and I don't even know what the hell I'm doing here since there's no way I'll ever have anything approaching a normal life. I'm just dragging you down with me."

Sam's anger returned. "Oh, drop the self pity, OK?"

AJ looked startled. "What?"

"You've had it pretty easy in life, my friend," Sam pointed out. "You're smart, handsome, confident, and lucky. You've got a scholarship, and you've got friends you can count on - namely me, which is a pretty darn good thing, if I do say so myself. Your life was blessed from an early age -- nothing's happened where you had to find out if you have the guts it takes to get through the tough times."

AJ thought about it. "Until now, you mean?"

"Until now. And what do you do? You wuss out!"

"Wuss out? Never!" AJ looked affronted at the notion.

"What do you call it, AJ? Don't say you're trying to spare me -- heck, you were ready to let me be your unsuspecting killer, and you're still ready to make me into a vampire just so you won't get lonely a hundred years down the road. You're selfish, self-centered, and arrogant. If you ever get this vampire stuff down, you're going to turn into a royal pain in the ass."

AJ was silent for a long time after Sam had finally run out of steam. At last, he laughed quietly. "Does this mean the wedding's off, buddy?"

Sam slumped in defeat. "You never listen, do you? That's probably how we got into this mess in the first place."

AJ's expression turned sober for a moment. "You're right about that," he admitted. But his natural good humor quickly reasserted itself. "So what do we do now?"

"First, you don't get any crazy notions about killing yourself," Sam replied. "Second, I figure out a way to cure you."

"Mr. Certified Public Accountant is going to cure me?" AJ laughed derisively.

"I was wrong," Sam grumbled in exasperation. "You're already a pain in the ass." He noticed a further lightening around the curtains. "Sun's gonna be up in a minute. Get back to sleep." He pulled open the door and stepped out backwards.

AJ looked like a lost puppy. "I'm sorry I said that, Keith," he apologized contritely. Again, it was clear he really meant it. There wasn't an intentionally mean bone in AJ's body, but the power growing within him was feeding his natural arrogance; sometime soon, Sam knew, the power would consume him, and AJ would be too morally weak to resist. When that finally happened, AJ would be lost.

"It's OK," Sam replied a little sadly. "Go to sleep."

AJ slid back down into the coffin and reached up for the lid.

"AJ?"

AJ stopped at looked at him. "What?"

"Don't antagonize the other students. You've about convinced them you're a vampire."

Absurdly, AJ looked pleased. "Yeah?" He was caught in the grip of his own strength, and it felt good.

"Listen, my friend," Sam went on. "All they need to do is steal the van some morning, drag your coffin into an empty lot, and open the lid."

AJ thought about this and nodded grudgingly. "Not a pretty picture," he agreed. "Maybe putting the coffin on wheels wasn't such a good idea."

"It was a good idea," Sam defended. "Just not a perfect one. Have a good sleep."

"Jawohl, mein kapitan!" AJ squawked in a passable imitation of Sergeant Schultz. He flopped back down and closed the coffin with a flourish.

Sam just shook his head before locking the van and returning to his room to get some much-needed rest.

Daylight came much too soon. Sam awoke with the taste of sour sodapop in his mouth and eyes that felt gritty. Resolutely, he forced himself up off the bed and went to the window. Stealing himself against the glare, he parted the shutters and peered out onto the day. What he could see of the campus appeared quiet and tranquil, without the menace of the night before. His memory of the night seemed like a fantasy, as if he had imagined it all. But the dorm room was real, and so were the cartons filled with pouches of whole blood in the refrigerator when he checked. Even the apple left on the countertop seemed to mock him.

Closing the refrigerator door against the confirmation he wanted so badly to disprove, he turned toward the desk and saw the clock. It read 1055.

Motivated now, Sam hurried through a shower and changed into clean bluejeans and a tee shirt sporting the college logo. He was only five minutes late when he charged down the front steps of the dorm and practically fell into Allison's waiting arms.

"Hi," he greeted, catching his breath. "Sorry I'm late."

She kissed him, handed him a small wicker basket, and took his arm companionably. "How about down by the duck pond?" she suggested, leading the way.

"Fine," Sam agreed, glad she was making all the decisions.

The duck pond proved to be at the border of a large park. It was a fair-sized pool of water, and several dozen ducks of diverse breeds paddled happily about in search of morsels. There were a few picnickers around, but the area was big enough to ensure privacy.

Allison picked a shady, grassy spot under a huge tree and spread out a blanket. As Sam helped her unload the basket, he said casually, "Allison, tell me what happened immediately after you quit your job in the city."

She looked at him oddly. "Oh, I guess you don't mean the After Dark Club," she said with a grin.

So she'd been there, Sam realized. "No, before."

"Well, I had a falling out with my boss, so I just up and quit. Since my boss was also my boyfriend -- nothing serious," she hastened to add for Keith's benefit, " -- I had to move out of the apartment. Anyway, I drove around for awhile, but it was getting late, so I stopped at a hotel for the night. The next morning, I walked out the door, went down a block, and got a job in the first place I came to -- which turned out to be the After Dark Club."

This information told Sam absolutely nothing, and he lay back on the grass, his arms behind his head. Nothing made sense. How could a club full of vampires exist in the heart of the city? "Does everyone around here believe in vampires?"

"Yeah, now that you mention it, I think they do," Allison replied in bemusement, as if just now seeing the incongruity of it. "They don't talk about it, but I've seen a lot of people wearing crosses, and they get off the streets quickly after sunset." She lay down beside him and began to nibble his ear. "Why so curious, Keith?" she asked, her breath a teasing tickle. She had certainly mastered the art of intimate conversation.

"I want to find a way to cure AJ," Sam explained seriously. "The existence of vampires contradicts what I've always believed. But there's also a logical, rational explanation for events. I just have to find the link."

"I didn't believe either," she said, "but if I'd worked at the club any longer, I probably would have become one of them." She sat up and began concentrating on putting bread, lunchmeat, and condiments together in recognizable sandwich forms.

Sam sat up to help her. "Allison, I'm sorry, but if I'm going to figure out any of what's happened, I have to know all the facts."

He heard someone whistling a familiar tune, and looked up to see Al strolling toward them across the grass. Though he was trying to appear nonchalant, Al was definitely agitated and in a hurry. He stopped beside the couple. "Hello, young lady," he greeted Allison.

She went right on making sandwiches.

Al sighed in relief. "Good, I guess only vampires can see me. I was starting to think even the imaging chamber was screwing up."

Sam groaned inwardly and tried to appear equally unaware of the hologram's presence.

"Sam, something very weird is going on," Al continued. Sam risked a withering look unseen by Allison, and Al shrugged. "I mean, weirder than what's already happened." He looked decidedly pleased with himself. "Sam -- I remember the After Dark Club!"

'Please, please,' Sam implored silently, 'cut out the dramatics!'

"Don't you remember where we were in 1986?" Al asked impatiently. He answered his own question. "We were here -- or rather in the city! We were working in that hideous little warehouse, remember? You were building the first prototype accelerator, and every cent we could scrounge was sunk into equipment. The After Dark Club was around the corner. We double-dated there once."

Sam remembered and grimaced, which Allison noticed. "Too much mustard?" she asked, obligingly scraping a bit off a slice of bread with a knife.

"No, it's perfect," Sam insisted. "I love mustard. I'm just thinking about AJ."

Allison stopped her work and took Sam's face in her hands, trailing a smear of mustard down one cheek. "Listen to me, Keith. You've got to slow down and put AJ out of your thoughts for awhile. You'll burn out if you don't."

Sam reached up and gripped her hands tightly. "Allison, you're going to think I've gone totally crazy, but you'll just have to trust me."

She looked skeptical. "'Trust me'," she repeated. "Isn't that what AJ's always saying?" She picked up a napkin and tenderly wiped the mustard off his face. "All right, Keith. I trust you."

"Thank you." Sam glanced back at Al and willed him to continue.

"It's no wonder you don't remember the date," Al reminisced with a frown. "I'm really sorry about that, too, Sam. How was I to know she was dead from the neck up? But it was a great club, remember? There weren't any vampires there."

For the first time in this leap, Sam was finally seeing a glimmer of something, something both tenuous and seemingly impossible. "A half-bubble off plumb," he said softly.

"What?" Allison and Al asked together.

"We had a faulty temporal delimiter. It kept putting out random pulses, little ripples in time. But we didn't transcend time in 1986 -- we transcended some sort of dimensional barrier," he explained hastily, trying to stall the outburst from Allison which was sure to come.

Allison scrambled to her feet and retreated. "Keith, you're spouting nonsense. You're scaring me."

"No, it makes sense, don't you see?" Sam implored her to understand, but he was really talking to Al, who was actually struck speechless for one of the few times in his life. "Say there are two dimensions -- or two thousand dimensions - each slightly different from the others. They interface at certain points in time or space -- maybe fluxing due to certain requisite conditions."

Al's mouth snapped shut as he pondered the idea. "So Keith, AJ, and Duncan came into this dimension by accident, and Allison before them."

"Right," Sam confirmed. "The college is here, but things aren't quite the same. AJ mentioned the scholarship money hadn't arrived yet. I'll bet we had trouble with the college losing our enrollment, too." He looked at Allison for confirmation. She just nodded mutely, wary of his verbal tirade. "So there could be two Quantum Leap Projects. Why not? And if there are, then I have the means to recreate conditions and get us back to our own dimension."

"Two Al's and two Sam's?" Al murmured. "There's a frightening thought."

"But not two Keith's or two AJ's or two Allison's," Sam observed. "They didn't exist in this dimension. Maybe the ones who are unique to a particular dimension are the only ones in danger of slipping through the barrier when conditions are right."

"Damnit, Keith, would you please stop babbling?"

"I'm sorry, Allison," Sam apologized, scrambling to his feet and walking over to her. He tried to hold her arms, but she jumped back. "I'm not crazy, really," he insisted. "But there are some things I have to do if we're ever going to get home again."

Something he had noted but not really thought about finally penetrated his growing excitement. There was someone watching them from a clump of bushes several yards away. A feeling of dread suddenly stole through him as Sam recognized the student from the night before, the one who had been on the steps and cautioned his friend to keep quiet. Why was he being watched?

"Two things," he said to Allison, but he was really talking to Al. "Then I'll quit babbling." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Allison, AJ's in danger. Don't ask me how I know, I just know. Are you willing to help?" She nodded, frightened by Keith's apparent hysteria but courageous enough to trust him. Sam took her arm and led her quickly away from the picnic site. "We've got to get to the van," he said. 

Al hastened along in their wake, his fingers furiously punching his handset. "The two things you need, Sam," he speculated. "All of Ziggy's 'half-bubble-off-plumb' data and the exact dates and times of the random discharges from the delimiter, right? If the times match when Allison disappeared, and when AJ, Keith and Duncan drove to the After Dark Club, you'll be able to confirm the factor that caused the dimensional rift."

"Right," Sam replied, although to Allison he was just talking to himself. "If this theory is correct, it mean's I'm responsible for everything that happened. I've been sent here to correct my own mistake."

The thought was grimly sobering, but he didn't have time to contemplate all the implications. If his theory was true, he knew, then the student Duncan had died as a direct result of Sam's early Quantum Leap experiments. He might not be able to correct that tragedy, but he might be able to save the others. Ironically, all he needed was time.

"You're sounding a bit like a megalomaniac," Allison murmured apologetically.

Sam chuckled. "I'm sure I do, but I'm going to stop my raving for awhile now."

"Thank you."

Behind them, Sam heard the portal to the imaging chamber close as Al returned to the future to assemble his data.

They reached the driveway leading down into the garage beneath the dorm, and Sam instinctively slowed. Urging Allison to be cautious, they crept along the wall and slipped unseen into the dim cavernous parking area.

As he'd feared, there were several students clustered at the rear of the van. One of the boys held a crowbar, and he looked ready to try to pry the lock. 

Allison immediately saw the danger. "Give me the keys," she whispered.

Sam had no idea what she was planning, but he did as bidden. Allison cut off diagonally from him, keeping other parked cars between herself and the other students. In the absence of any other plan, Sam walked boldly toward the group.

They were concentrating so heavily on building up their courage to break the lock that they failed to notice him until he had actually joined them. "Something I can help you fellows with?" he asked pleasantly.

To a man, they jumped in guilty surprise. Then one of them, whom Sam had not seen before, stepped forward as spokesman. "We want to see inside your van," he said.

"Why?"

"You know why!" the student fairly shouted. "We think you're keeping a -- " he faltered a bit. "We think you've got something pretty nasty in there."

Because he was expecting it, Sam heard the driver's door of the van open very quietly, and he figured Allison had climbed inside. Perhaps she was going to start the engine and make a getaway, in which case Sam could be left with a lot of trouble. He had to think of a plan.

"Something nasty, huh?" he repeated, looking bored. "I think that's a bit insulting, pal. You don't mean to be insulting, do you?"

There was just enough of a veiled threat in his calm words to make the group take a collective step backwards. At that moment, the rear door of the van opened halfway, and Allison leaned out toward them. She was naked from the waist up, and her rather spectacular bosom nearly assaulted the closest student at eye level. The youth stared in shocked amazement at the unexpected splendor.

"Keith," she complained. "I thought all the action was supposed to go on in here! Oh, hi, David," she said to the leader of the student group.

Sam felt a blush creep up his neck, heating his face. But if he was embarrassed, the rest of them were acutely mortified! He managed a smile. "Coming, hon'," he murmured, shrugging at the group. "I know you'd like to go in," he said, "but I think it might be just a tad cramped inside."

The students began to back away, their resolve deserting them at this unnerving development. "Sorry, Keith," one of them mumbled. Then, as one, they turned and left, shame-faced.

Allison slammed the door, and Sam hurried around to climb behind the wheel. She'd put the key in the ignition, so he had only to start the engine and put it in gear. He did this while she scrambled back into her clothes and plopped into the passenger seat. "Don't you dare tell AJ I did that," she threatened.

"He won't hear a word from me," Sam promised, driving up the ramp. He grinned in admiration. "That was brilliant, by the way," he congratulated her.

She blushed at the praise. "Yeah?"

He nodded confirmation. "Yeah."

He turned the van away from the college and toward the distant city. It was a two-hundred-mile drive, according to AJ, and the sun would be down before they got there. What sort of mood AJ would wake up in?

The miles rolled by monotonously, the countryside alternating between farmland and scrub land. It was not the most scenic highway in the world, Sam had to admit, and Allison's curious silence didn't help matters.

"I'm not going crazy, Allison," he had assured her once, but she didn't appear to believe him, so he gave it up. Later, there would come a point where he had to convince her to trust him, but there was no point in upsetting her further until he found out if Quantum Leap really existed in this dimension, or could determine if this really was another dimension.

The sun went down in a rather timid display of dusky colors, and Sam switched on the headlights. A few minutes later, he heard the coffin lid open in the cargo area.

"Rise and shine," he called. "We're taking a little road trip."

"No kidding," AJ grumbled, emerging from his bed and closing the lid with a sigh of satisfaction. He moved up to crouch behind the seats. "Jeez, I need shower," he complained grouchily. "And clean clothes. Did you bring any clean clothes? Oh, hi, Allison."

She ignored him, and AJ shot a look at Sam. Sam shrugged. "We had a bit of trouble back in the garage," he explained defensively. "Some of the students were trying to work up the courage to look inside the van. We didn't exactly have time to plan this trip."

"Then I don't suppose you thought to pack a snack," AJ retorted, unmoved by Sam's excuses. "I'm starving."

"We're almost to the city," Sam promised a little desperately. "Can you get a grip on yourself until then?"

"I don't know," AJ replied truthfully. "A hungry vampire has only one thing on his mind."

"Then we'll have to get your mind on something else," Sam stated in a tone that offered no debate.

"OK." AJ thought for a moment. "I had a weird dream," he confessed. "Somebody called me a skinny-legged chicken."

It sounded vaguely familiar, so Sam thought about it. "That was George Hamilton."

"Why would he call me a chicken?"

"In that movie with Susan St. James. Hamilton was a vampire who turned himself into a bat, and somebody called him a skinny-legged chicken."

"Oh." AJ dredged up memory. "Great looking lady," he commented appreciatively. Then he scowled. "George Hamilton." Sam knew what was coming. "He's the guy with the tan, right?"

And Allison laughed. Sam relaxed. She was going to be all right. Allison was clearly a woman who bounced back.

"Can you turn yourself into a bat, AJ?" she asked.

"I don't know." AJ sounded intrigued. "Want me to try?"

"No," Allison returned firmly. "I hate rodents."

"Are bats rodents?" AJ wondered.

"Bats are of the order Chiroptera," Sam explained. "Rodents are of the order Rodentia."

AJ was impressed. "And chickens?"

"Class Aves."

"Order?"

Sam sighed. "Beats me."

AJ lost interest. "I'm hungry," he repeated. 

"You're going to find this a weird request, AJ," Sam said, "but I want you to tell me everything that happened to us before we got to the After Dark Club."

AJ frowned in bemusement. "Before? Whew! That's all pretty irrelevant compared to what happened after!"

"I know, but humor me, please."

To AJ, it really was a weird request, but he thought about it. "OK. Let's see -- there was the frat initiation. You know, that dumb mock hanging and hokey witchcraft thing. So we offered to spring for their party instead, and they agreed as long as we brought a stripper. We had to borrow Duncan's car, and Duncan insisted on coming along, the little shit. I drove, you complained, and Duncan scanned the ads. We picked the After Dark Club and went there."

"Who picked the club?" Sam persisted.

AJ sighed, but obligingly searched his memory. "I did. Duncan was being silly, so I took the paper from him and chose the club."

"Why?"

"Why?" AJ snorted. "I don't know why."

Sam tried another approach. "OK, so you just drove up to the club."

"No, buddy -- _we_ drove up to the club. How could you forget that? You were screaming like an idiot."

"Why?"

"Have you contracted a sudden case of amnesia or something?" AJ demanded, his patience wearing thin.

"I said it was a weird request," Sam returned calmly. "Please, why was I screaming?"

AJ looked defensive. "I ran a red light, OK? You happy I admitted it? We damned near hit a semi, and the car went all cattywampus for a minute."

"Cattywampus?"

AJ was thoroughly disgusted now. "Spinning out of control," he replied, enunciating every word as if addressing a madman.

"For how long?"

"How do I know how long? A few seconds probably -- it felt like minutes! I thought we were never gonna get stopped." AJ looked imploringly at Allison. "Has the boy lost his mind?"

Allison nodded. "And the one he's found is definitely cattywampus."

Sam stubbornly ignored the asides. "And in all that time, while the car was spinning, we never hit another car or a lamp post or anything?"

AJ looked thoughtful. "No, we didn't -- and the street was really crowded. We must've spun around six or seven times at least."

"Where were we when we stopped?"

"On a deserted side street near the club." AJ's anger and impatience had vanished. "You're onto something, aren't you, Keith?"

"I hope so," Sam confessed. "Now, I just have to figure out how to do something about it."

"What's your idea?" AJ asked, intrigued now.

"You're gonna love it," Allison murmured in a tone which clearly stated otherwise.

Sam shot her an exasperated look. "I think we slipped into another dimension, probably due to a specific set of variables all interacting while the car was spinning out of control."

AJ's interest died. "That's silly."

"Any sillier than a night club run by vampires?" Sam countered a little testily.

AJ shrugged in reluctant agreement. "OK, so you think you can get us back to our own dimension?" 

Sam was surprised that AJ was taking him seriously. "Yeah, I think I can."

"And so what?"

Sam was startled. "What do you mean?"

"Will I be cured? Or will I still be a vampire? Our vampire lore had to come from somewhere, you know, so maybe a few vampires flitted over from this dimension by accident -- but they must have stayed a vampires."

Sam slumped. "I can't answer that. Only I think reality here is different. A person becomes a vampire here, and maybe that's just his destiny, or fate, or call it what you want. But you came here by accident -- your destiny got ripped right off its tracks."

Hope flared, died, flickered to life again. AJ look very subdued. "OK, Keith. Maybe you're right. Maybe you can pull it off. You've surprised me more than once, you know." There was a long pause, and Sam waited him out, wondering where AJ's troubled thoughts were taking him. "If we do this, you have to make me a promise. If you promise, I know you'll keep it."

Sam frowned. "I can't just make a blind promise."

AJ looked stubborn. "You promise, or I don't do it." There was no doubt he meant it.

Sam sighed. "OK, I promise."

"OK." AJ's look was direct and unflinching. "If we get back, and I'm still a vampire, you've just promised to kill me."

Even though he'd been half expecting it, Sam was stunned. He recalled Al's remark about death with dignity --- but every bit of vampire legend he'd ever heard was filled with gruesome, horrific deaths...ugly, painful death from sunlight or fire or wooden stakes driven through the heart. How did one mercifully kill a vampire?

AJ misinterpreted Sam's expression. "Yeah, I know. You couldn't even bring yourself to kill me at the club, when I was about to make you my first meal. But this time you promised."

Sam nodded bleakly. "This time I promised."

Without really being aware of it, they had entered the city. Sam did not recognize it as the same one where he and Al had worked so many years before. This place was run-down, bleak and forbidding. It was not late, but every shop front was dark and shuttered. Street lamps were broken or flickered feebly, and vague shadows scuttled in the dimness.

AJ sniffed the air, a hunter testing the wind. "I belong here," he murmured.

"No!" Sam protested sharply, turning to glare at his companion. What he saw made him flinch. AJ's eyes had gone from brown to amber; his upper canines had become fangs protruding from between his lips. AJ was changing into the monster Sam had seen the night before, an eternity before. "Hang on, AJ. Just hang on. I'll take care of you when we reach the lab."

"How?" AJ demanded peevishly.

Sam nearly missed his turn --he had to rely on street names because nothing looking familiar. They were in an area of burned out rubble.

Allison had shrunk into her seat. "I never wanted to come back here."

So this was where Keith had destroyed the After Dark Club. What Sam needed was just around the corner.

"How?" AJ demanded again, clutching Sam's shoulder.

Sam yelped in pain. "Take it easy, pal!" he urged, resolutely keeping his eyes off the yellow claws biting into him. The grip slackened. "There's a small infirmary at the project." He glanced nervously at Allison. "I'll get you a pint there."

Allison hadn't missed the look and rallied angrily. "Thank you very much!" she snapped. "I guess chivalry really is dead!"

"I'm sorry, Allison, but I have to keep clear-headed," Sam apologized. "If we need more for AJ, I promise I'll be the one."

"Well, OK," she agreed grudgingly.

The warehouse looked dark and deserted. It was in the center of a huge lot, now overgrown with weeds. Two chain-link fences surrounded it.

Sam pulled up to the first gate and stopped. He leaned out to reach an electronic keypad and prayed the security code was the same as he remembered. It was. The gate slid open with a protesting rasp, and Sam drove through to the second gate.

"Hey, you've been working on this for a long time, haven't you?" AJ asked, his hunger momentarily forgotten. "With that professor friend of yours -- Al. He got you the key code."

"Right," Sam agreed absently, keying in the numbers for the second alarm. The gate rolled open.

"Well, OK," AJ approved. "If you've got a quantum physicist on your side, maybe your theory isn't so wild after all."

"Thank you." Sam pulled the van around to a side door and parked. "There'll be a guard," he warned. "We mustn't hurt him."

AJ chuckled, a decidedly inhuman sound. "He won't feel a thing."

Allison moaned. "Oh, Jesus!"

Sam opened the door and climbed out. "Don't hurt him, AJ," he pleaded. "Please."

Although AJ had become a physical mockery of his human self, he was still not fully transformed. As he slid between the seats and climbed out, he grimaced in pain, as if trying to hold back the changes going on inside him. "Just hurry, Keith, OK? I don't know how much longer I can take this."

"Come on," Sam urged them. Allison followed him obediently, although she was trembling in fear. AJ stopped long enough to retrieve his jacket and put it on. What he really needed was a tuxedo and satin-lined cape.

The three clustered around the door.

"You got a key?" AJ asked.

"Sorry, no. You'll have to open it," Sam replied apologetically.

AJ leered in delight. "No problem." Seemingly without effort, he twisted the knob totally off and shoved the door inward. Imperiously, he strode inside.

The guard, alerted by the sound of the van driving up, was waiting for them, his gun drawn. He took one look at AJ and fainted dead away.

"There's a blow to the vanity," AJ complained, starting toward the unconscious figure.

"AJ, no," Sam said gently, hurrying forward and grabbing the guard under the armpits. "The infirmary's right here. It'll just take a second."

"Just a nibble?" AJ begged.

"Why spoil your otherwise perfect etiquette?" Sam countered, dragging the guard into the little room that served as the infirmary. He used first-aid tape to bind the man's wrists and ankles, then thought for a moment before deciding to tape his mouth as well.

"I'll bet Bela Lugosi didn't have to worry about etiquette," AJ objected petulantly.

Sam grinned. "But Bela Lugosi didn't have your style."

AJ pondered this. "True," he agreed unabashedly.

Finished with the guard, Sam quickly gathered the items he needed -- a unit of standard saline solution, three feet of IV tubing, and the only hypo he could find. He used the tubing to drain the saline into the sink, then secured the hypo to the other end. "Allison?"

She came forward hesitantly and sat on a nearby stool. Sam looked at AJ. "You'd better wait in the hall. You'll just torment yourself if you watch."

AJ fidgeted. "OK, but hurry." He retreated out the door.

Allison closed her eyes tightly and held out her arm. "Yeah, hurry."

Sam hurried. He used an alcohol swab to sterilize an area on Allison's wrist, took a deep breath, then quickly but gently inserted the needle. Allison yelped in spite of his careful efforts. "Sorry, Allison, but I want to get arterial blood. Unfortunately, most of the arteries are deep and surrounded by nerve tissue."

"You might have warned me," she muttered, watching in fascination as her blood began pumping through the tubing into the empty plastic bag. "I felt it all the way up to my shoulder. What makes it come out so fast?"

"Your heart," Sam explained absently, gauging the amount of blood he was withdrawing. When he'd estimated a pint, he closed the IV tubing and withdrew the needle, quickly applying a sterile bandage to the puncture. He pressed tightly. "This isn't the same as a normal blood test," he said. "You'll have to hold the bandage on there firmly for at least five minutes to stop the bleeding."

"I feel woozy," Allison said. "What if I feel like I want to pass out?"

Sam put a tourniquet around her upper arm. "If you start to feel really bad, tighten this."

"Then what?"

"Then call me if you can. If you can't and pass out, at least you won't lose any more blood." The words were coolly clinical because Sam's thoughts were already moving on. He found a pair of scissors, upended the pouch and cut the IV tubing to straw length. Suddenly aware of how much he was taking Allison's courage for granted, he paused and smiled sympathetically. "I'd better get out to AJ. You'll be all right here, Allison. If you feel up to it in a bit, come down to the lab -- it's about halfway down the hall."

She nodded, then smiled bravely. "I'll be there in a minute."

"Good girl." Sam left her and found AJ impatiently pacing in the corridor. "Here," Sam said, handing him the pouch. "Don't slurp, and follow me."

AJ sucked happily on the improvised straw and strode obediently after Sam.

The lab was just where Sam remembered. It didn't look much like the cluttered but clean work area of Sam's own project; this room was dusty and disorganized. A half-eaten pizza congealed in its cardboard box beside the main computer terminal. Ignoring the mess, Sam began to locate the equipment he would need. Surprisingly, there wasn't much -- small power generators, the accelerator projectors and receptors, and the contrary delimiter. He stacked the items on a rollaway cart. "Take these to the van," he said to AJ. "I need to do some work on the computer."

"OK." AJ had emptied the pouch, but he still looked wan. He hadn't returned to his "normal" self, but Sam didn't really notice.

Where was Al? There were delicate, time-consuming computations to be made. Even with luck, they would take most of the night. Every minute was crucial.

He unplugged one of the stand-alone PC's and its peripherals, figuring he'd better take them along just in case, even though the real work would be done on the mainframe supercomputer right here in the lab. He was just about to access it when a voice behind him said, "No need for that, Sam."

To his credit, Sam hardly jumped. "Al, where've you been?"

Al looked smug. "We gave the problem to Ziggy. I figured it had to be simpler than hauling all the data over to you and watching you play with this -- " Al gestured derisively at the supercomputer, " -- antique."

Sam was momentarily flummoxed. So used to being on his own, despite Al's holographic presence, he'd forgotten he had a team of brilliant and near-brilliant project scientists working on his behalf back at Quantum Leap. It gave him a warm feeling of security.

"Thanks, Al," he said. "You did the right thing."

Al grinned. "OK. Now, you'd better write this stuff down. I don't know if you want to trust it to a floppy disk."

When Allison walked in a few minutes later, she found Sam furiously jotting a bewildering series of scientific notations across sheet after sheet of writing paper. "How are you feeling?" Sam asked.

"My arm still hurts," she replied, perching on the edge of a chair. "Gosh, Keith, I never knew you were so smart."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Sam muttered absently. He finished writing and nodded to Al. The computations looked plausible. The only way to prove them would be through actual application. He folded the sheets carefully and put them safely in a pocket.

"Where's AJ?" he asked suddenly, aware that too much time had passed.

"He rolled a cart out to the van," Allison replied.

"He should have been back by now." Sam felt tension course through him as he headed for the door. "Wait here, Allison," he cautioned her. She sensed his apprehension and nodded mutely.

The corridor was empty. Sam could see along it to the open door and the van beyond. There was no sign of AJ, but the cart, now empty of its burden, stood by the door. Sam hurried along the hallway, his dread rising with each step.

"I don't like this, Sam," Al said beside him.

Sam didn't answer. What if AJ had disappeared into the night on a hunting foray? They would have to wait until he returned, then face the long drive back to the university. They would have wasted half the day driving, time Sam had hoped to spend assembling the components and testing them before making their real attempt at next nightfall. If they lost tonight, it might be another full day before they could attempt the leap across the dimensions; another day for AJ to mutate more into the monstrosity he was becoming, another day when they would be at risk.

He passed the infirmary door without a glance, but the sounds coming from there froze him in his tracks. An overwhelming stench of copper pennies assailed his nostrils, nearly gagging him.

Al's shout of horror was totally unnecessary. "My God -- Sam!"

"AJ, no!" Sam yelled desperately, leaping through the door and grabbing AJ from behind. It was futile, because he didn't have the strength to overcome AJ -- not _this_ AJ, now transmuted into the monster Sam had hoped never to see again, a vampire in full blood frenzy.

With a roar of anger, AJ straightened from the lifeless form of the security guard and flung Sam away. Sam hit the wall with enough force to knock the breath out of him, but he was horrifyingly aware of AJ's clawed hands gripping his shoulders, pinning him helplessly.

"Sam, look out!" Al cried uselessly, jumping up and down in agitation at his inability to help. 

Sam couldn't catch his breath to speak, to plead with AJ, to penetrate the fury descending upon him. AJ's breath reeked, and his razor-keen fangs still glistened a sickly red. Sam closed his eyes, shutting out the horror.

Al suddenly remembered AJ could hear him. "AJ! AJ, stop it! You don't want to do this! Sam's your only hope!" The bared fangs sank towards Sam's exposed throat -

It took Sam a long, paralyzed moment to realize he did not feel the pain he had anticipated. He was alive, and breathing. The hands pinning him to the wall were not so forceful, and no fangs had pierced his carotid. He opened his eyes.

AJ was trembling, and Sam hugged him as tightly as his shock-induced weakness would permit. "It's OK, AJ," he whispered. "You couldn't help it." He could see the guard, still helplessly bound and gagged as Sam had left him, but lifeless now, the eyes wide and reflecting the terror of his last moments. Sam felt sick.

"Sam, are you OK?" Al asked desperately.

Sam nodded, then found his voice as Allison burst through the door, a fire extinguisher held over her head. "No, Allison!" he shouted, seeing her intent was to bash AJ over the head.

She stopped uncertainly and lowered the extinguisher, her eyes alternating between Sam and the body of the guard.

AJ stiffened and straightened. He was simply AJ again -- ashamed now, his eyes haunted, but still AJ. He looked at Allison and the weapon she had planned to use on him. "Ouch," he said, piqued.

"I thought you were going to kill Keith," Allison explained a little breathlessly.

AJ looked at Sam. Both were still shaken, but Sam managed a grin: "Nah."

AJ smiled uncertainly and turned away. "Oh, hi, Al."

"Bye, guys," Al said, retreating.

"Who's Al?" Allison asked.

AJ looked at Sam. "Who's Sam?" he asked.

Sam straightened from the wall. He could already feel the bruises on his back; he would be sore tomorrow. "Did you get the stuff loaded into the van?" AJ nodded. "OK, we can forget the rest of it. Let's go." It was hard to be forceful and in charge, but Sam knew another few minutes in this place would send either himself or Allison into raving hysterics. There was only so much a person could take.

They climbed into the van, and Sam drove slowly out through the gates. The streets were still silent and deserted, and they made good time.

No one said a word on the trip back.

Sam backed the van up to the rear entrance of the dorm. He had debated on the relative seclusion of the garage, but that meant lugging the equipment up an extra flight of stairs. He opted for the shorter route. "OK, it's three a.m.," he said. "Everybody should be asleep, so let's be as quiet as possible."

Somewhat to his surprise, it went off without a hitch. In two trips, the three of them had transferred all of the equipment to Keith's room. They hadn't seen anybody.

"Allison, you stay here," Sam told her as they completed their second trip. "I've got to find a safe place to leave AJ and the van."

"How about the faculty parking lot?" AJ asked. "Students don't go in there."

"Except the instructors are real fussy about their parking spaces," Allison pointed out. "You'd be towed before first class in the morning." She pondered the problem. "What about the girl's dorm across the quad? It's close, and Keith should be able to get in and out without being spotted. They probably won't notice or care about an extra car."

"Yeah," AJ agreed. "Good thinking."

"Let's go." Sam kissed Allison -- again, he intended to be brief, but her intentions were something else entirely. "I'll be right back," he promised.

He and AJ returned to the van just as the first tinge of gray lightened the eastern horizon. AJ climbed in and slipped into the back. He leaned on the rear of the passenger seat as Sam started the engine and pulled out.

"Why so glum?" Sam asked. "It will be over by tonight."

"I want to tell you something, Keith," AJ began haltingly. "Remember your promise?"

Sam sighed. "Yes."

"Well, what I've got to tell you will make keeping it a whole lot easier."

Sam shook his head. "You're going to tell me you lied that night when you said you'd never killed anyone before. You said the mugger's death would be blamed on a series of cult killings -- but you're really responsible for all of them."

AJ frowned, bewildered. "You knew?"

"I think I always knew." Sam looked at him in the dim glow of dawn. "It won't make keeping my promise any easier."

AJ couldn't find words to express the emotions he was feeling, so he opted for the seclusion of his coffin. Sam found the girl's dorm without difficulty, parked the van deep in the shadows of the underground garage. As Allison had predicted, his arrival and departure went unseen.

As he crossed the empty quad toward his own dorm, Sam was suddenly overcome with a heavy weariness. It was not so much a product of lack of sleep, but rather the manifestation of the guilt he had so resolutely ignored up until now. Duncan's death weighed on him, and now he could add another death to his growing list of mistakes -- the guard at the lab. Sam trembled at the memory of binding and gagging the man, rendering him helpless against AJ's attack. It was a memory which would haunt him; he hoped it would humble him the next time he thought he could rush things. Rushing things was precisely what had gotten him into this quantum leaping mess in the first place. Perhaps there was some ironic punishment in this odd leap.

Sam returned to Keith's room and found Allison asleep in the armchair. He let her sleep; there was nothing she could do to help. Beyond the window blinds, dawn had become a reality. Sam wanted his equipment assembled and tested by nightfall, so it was time to get to work.

Most troublesome was the faulty delimiter that had malfunctioned with such catastrophic results. Sam knew how to fix it (had, in fact, fixed it in 1987) but it was delicate, time-consuming work. His tools were limited to what he had grabbed from the lab, but he made good progress throughout the morning.

Allison woke up at noon and shuddered when she saw the time. "Keith, you've missed all your morning classes."

Sam looked at her. "You really haven't believed a word of what I've told you, have you?" he asked, bemused. "After tonight, it's not going to make any difference whether or not I go to class or whether or not you go to work."

Allison shrugged. "I said I trusted you. I didn't know I had to believe you."

"Which makes your trust all the more special," Sam returned with a grin. "Think you can make some coffee? It's been a long night, and it's going to be an even longer day."

So she made coffee and sandwiches for them, then watched silently as Sam worked on the components. He had to align them just so, then measure and re-measure to insure he had the optimum focus on the projectors. The circle of influence, the area affected when the projectors were turned on, was a little smaller than he would have preferred, but the smallness of the room dictated the limits.

Allison, alternately dozing, watching, or pacing in boredom, was unimpressed with his final sigh of satisfaction. She stood at the blinds, open now, and watched students going to class or returning to the dorm.

Sam was ready for a test. He took the apple from the counter top and placed it in the center of the circle. A three-second burst, he calculated, setting and synchronizing the projectors. He activated the timer.

The apple disappeared.

Where it had gone -- through a temporal barrier, a dimensional barrier, or a spatial barrier, or even a combination of all three -- was not immediately deducible. For that, Sam would need the supercomputer, but there was no time to return to the lab and conduct the research. He had to trust Ziggy's calculations.

"Oh, no!" Allison blurted suddenly from the window. "They've taken the van!"

"What?" Sam dashed up beside her just in time to see the van disappear behind one of the college buildings. "Where's your car?"

"In the visitor's lot." She had already pulled the keys from her pocket and was following him to the door. She stopped to grab something. "Keith!"

Sam turned around just in time to catch a bow and a quiver of arrows. Bow and arrows? Was he any good at archery? Sam figured he would find out soon enough.

They rushed out the door. However, this time Sam paused long enough to lock the door behind him. He didn't want a curious student to wander in and find the projectors.

He followed Allison to the nearby visitor's parking lot where her car had been since their interrupted picnic the day before, and he remembered just in time to stay behind her because he didn't have the faintest idea what her car looked like.

It was a bright red Beetle convertible. Somehow, Sam figured he should have known.

Allison raced the engine, which responded with a well-tuned growl, and the little car fairly spurted in pursuit.

"Any idea where they might be taking him?" Sam asked, shouting above the rush of wind and the whine of the engine.

"The way they were going, they'll have to go out the west exit. There's a lot of open country out there beyond faculty housing." Allison jolted the bug through a series of corners. "I know a shortcut."

"Sunset," Sam said suddenly. "When's sunset?"

"How should I know?" Allison shot back. "You're the one who always kept track of things like that."

"Of course." Sam glanced up at the sun, depressingly high in the autumn sky. Sunset was still hours away.

"At five-seventeen," said the familiar voice from the back seat. "Two hours and four minutes from now."

Sam grinned. "Thank you, Al." He turned and glanced casually back, and there was Al, sitting atop the back of the rear seat, the holographic image totally unruffled by the breakneck speed.

"Who's Al?" Allison demanded peevishly.

Sam was weak with relief. "My invisible friend."

"Shit," Allison observed eloquently. "First AJ, now you."

Sam was saved from a reply when she pointed ahead. "There's the van."

"Slow down and just keep it in sight," Sam advised her. There was another car directly behind the van. It looked like part of the processions. Either it carried students who had been unable to fit inside the van - in which case Sam guessed he would be facing a crowd - or they had plans for the van, which required alternate transportation.

She looked at him angrily. "Keith, what if they've already opened the coffin? One of them could drive a stake through AJ's heart."

"No, I don't think so," Sam replied with more hope than assurance. The students were acting as a group; even clustered behind the van as they had prepared to break in, he had not seen any sign of a weapon. They would confirm the presence of the vampire - easily deduced now that they were inside the van with the coffin - and then take passive measures to dispose of it. He hoped.

He looked at the bow and arrows gripped tightly in his hands. With a slight smile, he realized there were Keith's "wooden stakes". Keith must be a passable archer, he decided. At least they explained AJ's weird William Tell act with the apple on his head their first night in the dorm. The arrows were of different types, which indicated Keith had purchased them on several different occasions. There were a lot of them. Was Keith compulsive about buying them, or did he really have a need for the variety? How big an arsenal did a vampire killer require? There was one, unique from the rest, with a particularly vicious metal tip. This was no target arrow. Here was a killing weapon. Sam examined them all more closely, and then began to get the faintest glimmer of an idea. Keith appeared to have planned for every eventuality, and if his buying had been compulsive, perhaps it was a tangible first step toward the time when he might have use one against his best friend.

"Sam, they'll have to pull over soon," Al commented from the back seat. "If they wait much longer, it'll be dark."

"They're turning off onto that dirt road," Allison reported almost on top of his words.

"OK, I don't want them to see us," Sam warned. "Keep as far back as you can, and pull into whatever cover you can find."

"All right," she agreed. The Beetle bounced over the dirt track, its presence hidden in the dust cloud thrown up by the van. When the van and the car finally stopped in an open field, she pulled the Beetle into a nearby copse of trees, their branches bare and dry in the autumn. To Sam, in his present morbid state of mind, they looked like skeletons.

He thrust aside the imagery and climbed out of the little car. "Stay here," he urged Allison.

"Not a chance," she replied, getting out to stand beside him.

"You won't like what I'm going to have to do," he insisted with fatalistic calm, but he knew there was no point in argument. With a sigh, he left the trees and approached the two vehicles in the field.

"Sam, what are you gonna do?" Al asked suspiciously.

"I think you were right, Al," Sam replied, not caring what Allison thought. "Maybe I can't save AJ after all."

"Ah, Sam," Al protested. "Look how close you've come. You can't give up now. A few more minutes is all you need."

"We don't have a few more minutes," Sam responded with dull certainty.

There were seven students gathered behind the van. They had opened the rear door and pulled out the coffin before Sam was close enough to attract their attention. He held the bow downward, and arrow loosely nocked. He kept his tone mild and unthreatening. "Guess you figured out about AJ," he said.

The students looked at him, and David stepped forward as spokesman. "You can't stop us, Keith, not even with that," he replied firmly, nodding toward the bow.

"If I were going to fight you, I'd have brought gun," Sam pointed out. "The bow isn't for killing people."

"What then."

"It's for killing vampires." He held up the quiver to show its contents. "Wooden arrows."

He was being so calm and reasonable, the others began to relax a bit. David frowned. "We were just going to open the coffin and let the sun do the work."

Sam shook his head. "AJ's my friend. What he's become wasn't his fault. I can't let him die that way."

"You think a wooden stake is less painful?"

Sam shrugged. "More merciful anyway. With the sun this low in the sky, it will work too slowly. I don't want him to suffer any more than necessary."

"You're prepared to kill him yourself?" The question came from Murray, who sounded skeptical.

"It's something I've been prepared to do for a long time," Sam admitted. He showed them the hunting arrow nocked in the bow. Its tip glinted with deadly intent; penetration would be deep and certain, and the wooden shaft would bury itself in his heart. "It was inevitable he would be found out."

"Keith, I can't believe you're saying this!" Allison burst out angrily.

"What do you want me to do, Allison?" Sam shot back, just as angrily. "Kill a bunch of innocent kids who are protecting themselves the only way they know how? I can't do that. We did everything we could for AJ -- it's time to admit we just couldn't do enough."

"And what about tonight?"

"It was too little, too late." Sam took a deep breath and lowered his voice. "The decision has been taken out of our hands."

"Oh." It was a tiny word, spoken very quietly. There were tears in Allison's eyes, and she turned her back to hide them. Her voice was shaky as she asked, "Are you going to do it now?"

"If they'll let me." Sam looked at the spokesman. "Well?"

Time had passed, and the sun was getting low on the horizon. It's dusky glow cast long shadows across the field. If he could stall long enough...but no.

The students looked at one another indecisively, and again it was David who made the final decision. "All right. Do it now."

"Allison, go get the car, please," Sam suggested. "It will be better if you're not here."

Without a word, she hurried off. San turned toward the coffin and was startled to see Al standing in front of it. "Sam, there has to be a better way. We've come too far to fail now."

"I don't have any choice," Sam murmured, and walked right through the holographic image. As Allison had done, Al turned away, unable to watch.

Sam climbed on top of the coffin and stood on the bottom section of lid. Calmly, he drew back the bowstring and nodded to David. "Open the lid."

Hesitantly, David stepped forward. The other students backed away, staring in fascination but reluctant to get too close. With a convulsive jerk, David flung open the top half of the coffin lid and jumped back.

AJ's eyes flew open, and he stared directly up at Sam in the gathering dusk.

"Sorry, AJ," Sam said, and released the bowstring.

The arrow shot downward and penetrated AJ's chest with a sickening thud. AJ screamed, a loud, despairing wail that filled the meadow with its anguish. His hands reached toward Sam, clutching at nothing, then fell limp. He convulsed once, then fell motionless as his voice died on the air.

It was over.

The students clustered around as Sam jumped down off the coffin. They peered in at the still form, to all appearances asleep save for the arrow sticking so grotesquely from his chest. AJ did not look like a vampire; he just looked very, very dead. A few of the students hastened off to be sick.

The last sliver of sun dipped behind the hills and turned everything a featureless gray.

"Now we burn it," David said in a quavering voice.

"No, I'm going to bury AJ," Sam told him softly.

The student thought about it. "OK -- but we burn the coffin. He's got no more use for it."

"All right." Sam reached in and pulled AJ's body into a sitting position. "Help me get him into the van."

"We're burning the van, too."

Sam looked at him in exasperation, but he was too tired and discouraged to argue. "All right."

Allison arrived with the Beetle, and Sam gently lifted AJ into the back. There was a certain loss of dignity as the limp figured folded into the tiny backseat, but Sam figured AJ was in no position to protest. Allison didn't look at him as he completed his grim task, and she didn't speak to him as he climbed into the passenger seat.

Al stood beside the door. "I'm sorry, Sam," he said. "I wish it hadn't worked out this way. I wanted you to be right."

Sam just nodded at him, too weary to accept comfort or to offer it. "Let's go, Allison."

She put the little car in gear and started back down the dirt road. Sam heard the whoosh of flames as the coffin ignited, and it had the same finality as the sound of the arrow piercing AJ's heart. But he didn't turn around to watch.

Sam realized Allison was crying. "Would you like me to drive?" he asked gently.

She shook her head and furiously wiped her eyes with one hand. "I'll be OK."

"I wish I could say the same," grumbled a petulant voice from the back. "This was my last good jacket."

Allison shrieked and promptly drove off the road into a ditch, effectively cutting off any conversation as Sam clutched at the dash to keep from going through the windshield. The car rocked to a halt, its front end crumpled against a dirt bank.

It took them all a moment to regain their breath. Sam turned and glared at AJ. "Was that really necessary?"

AJ was examining the arrow hole in his jacket. He stuck his middle finger through it and inspected the result. "I'll never be able to get this repaired."

Allison swung around in her seat. "I think I can safely say the same about my car."

"Oh." AJ shrugged contritely. "Sorry." He held up the arrow. "What the hell is this, anyway?"

Sam smiled. "I think it's wood-grained aluminum."

"You think?" AJ repeated ominously. "You think?"

Sam's smile broadened. "It was part of my backup plan," he explained modestly, taking credit for Keith's foresight. Why else would such an arrow have been part of Keith's arsenal?

"Man, I really thought you'd killed me," AJ admitted.

For a moment there, so did I, Sam thought, but he just scoffed, "Nah."

AJ settled back in the seat. "Keith, you never cease to amaze me," he said admiringly.

"In case you haven't thought about it," Allison pointed out, "it's a long walk back to the dorm, and we only have 'til dawn to get there."

She was right, of course, and they lost even more time crouching in the ditch until David and his band of coffin-burners had driven past on their way back to campus. Sam wasn't in the mood to fight them, and he certainly didn't want to turn AJ loose upon them.

The roads were dark and deserted; the few motorists who passed would not stop for three hitchhikers, and who could blame them? Vampires were alive and well in the night, although Sam never actually saw one besides AJ. At least Sam had his trusty bow and arrows. He just hoped he could use them accurately at distances greater than three feet if the need arose.

As for AJ, he went off by himself for awhile without explanation, although he promised to stay close by in case they ran into trouble. Neither Allison nor Sam cared to know where he went, but when he returned, he seemed jaunty and satisfied.

Dawn was tingeing the horizon a muted rose when they finally reached the campus. Sam and Allison were dragging with weariness, but AJ was just as fresh as when they'd started the trek. He looked at the approaching dawn with interest. "Like you said, it's all going to be over soon -- one way or another," he commented thoughtfully. "I think I'm glad."

"I just hope my calculations are right," Sam murmured.

"Me, too," AJ admitted. "I saw how that queen vampire bitch at the After Dark Club died in the sunlight. It's not something I'd care to experience, thank you very much."

"You won't," Sam promised grimly. He held up an arrow. "This one's the real thing."

AJ nodded. "OK, then let's do it."

They entered the dorm stealthily, with Sam scouting the way to make certain there were no students about. After all, it wouldn't do for anyone to see AJ so recently returned from the dead - again. There were a few close calls avoided by hasty retreats into stairwells and broom closets, but they reached Keith's room without incident.

Sam didn't breathe until the door was closely and locked firmly behind them.

"Can we hurry this thing up?" AJ asked. "I'm starting to not feel so good."

Sam was surprised at AJ's rapidly increasing weakness. As Al had said, keeping a vampire from his coffin past sunrise was a slow but certain death.

He quickly guided Allison and AJ into the center of the circle formed by the projectors. "It'll just be a minute," he assured them. With practiced skill, he set the timers. "Here we go."

The world shimmered around them, as if they were surrounded by invisible flames. When it settled again, the room looked subtly different.

"Hey, how'd you get in here?" demanded a peeved voice.

They looked toward the source of the complaint -- a young man wearing a towel and nothing else. Water dribbled from his freshly washed hair. The man blinked. "Wait a minute. I know who you are. You're the guys who disappeared a month ago."

Sam looked at AJ, who was ignoring the tirade of the newly washed freshman. Instead, he was staring at the window with sick fascination. The blinds were drawn, but daylight was still visible around the edges. He took a tentative step, kicked an apple that was sitting ludicrously at his feet, and absently picked it up before taking a second step. Sam impulsively reached out a hand to stop him.

AJ shook his head. "It won't make a difference if I stand here or go to the window. If it's gonna happen, it will." Sam looked at Allison, who just nodded in mute agreement. She took Sam's hand and gripped it tightly as they followed AJ.

AJ stopped in front of the window. With fatalistic calm, he slowly reached up with both hands, still clutching the apple in his right, and slid them between the slats. Then, with a sudden, short breath, he parted the blinds. Sunlight streamed against his face, and he gasped, screwing his eyes shut against the glare.

Then, slowly, he opened them and peered into the unaccustomed light. He stood like this for several long seconds, then, totally deadpan, he took a monstrous bite out of the apple and chewed thoughtfully before turning around to face the others.

Only then did he allow his emotions to show. He threw his arms around Sam, who was laughing in relief, and Allison hugged both of them, alternately laughing and crying.

"You guys are nuts," observed the freshman. "The police have been looking all over for you. The college packed up all your stuff and shipped it off to your folks."

AJ stopped his celebration and looked at the student in sudden alarm. "What?"

The young man took a step backwards, his belligerence dying under AJ's glare. "I said -- "

"I heard," AJ interrupted. He turned back to Sam. "You got any money?"

"A bit," Sam admitted.

"Good. First, I have to get some trunks. Man, I've got a tan to catch up on." He was already heading for the door. "And food."

"Corned beef and cabbage?" Sam laughed.

AJ stopped by the door and turned around. "Are you crazy? Burgers, fries, pizza with those little fishes you like so much, beer -- lots of beer."

Abruptly, he darted back to Sam and gave him a bear hug. "Did I forget to tell you you're a genius?"

Sam laughed, gasping for breath. "I think you would have admitted it eventually."

But AJ was already heading out again, his thoughts focused on important matters like beer and pizza. Minor things like the police, parents, and college could wait.

Sam leaned back against the window ledge and allowed relief to wash over him. Allison snuggled up against him. "You weren't really sure, were you?" she asked softly.

Sam shook his head. "Not really. But I was more afraid of it working and AJ still not being cured." He remembered the promise he'd made, and wondered if he could have found the courage to fulfill it.

Allison wiggled some more, her eyes gazing steadily up into his. "By the way, I think you're a genius, too," she whispered, her breath tickling his mouth. Conversation after that became impossible, and Sam grumbled mentally that this was always the time he leaped out again, at the moment of triumph and reward.

Like now.

Al whistled a merry tune as he closed the door of the imaging chamber behind him. All's well that ends that way, he told himself, and for now he was too relieved by Sam's success to think about just how close they had come to failing.

He met Tina in the hallway. Gorgeous Tina -- luscious Tina -- available Tina.

"You're two o'clock appointment is here," she said. 

Al stopped, his fantasies giving way to reality. "Two o'clock," he echoed blankly. He didn't have a two o'clock appointment.

"In your office," Tina added.

"In my office." He watched her continue down the corridor, her backside swaying invitingly, her trim legs swinging in easy strides -- "Damn," he muttered, turning resolutely away and heading for his door.

He swept into his office without a glance at his visitor and sat down, moving some files around on the desktop to give the illusion of sorting through work, then glanced up.

His jaw dropped. "Sam -- I mean, Keith!" he stuttered.

"Good," Keith said. "I'd hoped I was arriving after the leap, otherwise I'd have a lot of explaining to do."

"You still have a lot of explaining to do," Al pointed out, examining the man before him. Keith was older now, more confident. "I take it you decided accounting was out and quantum physics was in."

Keith grinned. "Exactly. I never much cared for the idea of being an accountant anyway, and once I got back to 1986, I had a chart for the course I had to follow."

"Sam Beckett," Al supplied.

"Sam Beckett -- following his path was hard considering how many of his professors insisted his theories were wrong, you know. But I had the knowledge that he was right -- about most things anyway -- so I stuck with it."

"Most things?" Al asked suspiciously.

"Yeah. I have an idea about how we can control all his leaping around, maybe even bring him back."

Al beamed and stood up. "In that case, I'm all ears. Let me buy you a cup of coffee."

"You forget, I've already experienced your coffee," Keith pointed out. "Got any soda?"

"It can be arranged." Al threw a companionable arm around Keith's shoulders and escorted him from the office. "Tell me about AJ. How's he doing?"

"AJ's great -- he's probably the world's youngest billionaire gynecologist."

"I should have guessed," Al admitted with open admiration.

"He's mad that I didn't become a CPA so I could fiddle his books at tax time."

"And Allison?"

Keith reached into his portfolio and pulled out a paperback novel. He handed it to Al, who stopped and stared at the cover in amazement. It depicted a mostly naked, nubile young woman succumbing to a rakishly handsome vampire. "She writes these books?" he asked, delighted. "I've read them all -- they're very good." He suddenly scowled in embarrassment. "I mean, one of my wives used to have her books -- I must have read them then."

Keith chuckled. "It's all right -- forty-three percent of her readers are men, but you can never find one who'll actually admit to reading one."

Al took a step, then stopped again to face his visitor. He looked serious. "Has this leap of Sam's changed the future because you gained knowledge that changed the course of your life?"

Keith shrugged. "I keep some very potent headache pills handy for the times I think about that paradox. Mostly, I just ignore it."

"Sound scientific advice," Al agreed, walking on again. "By the way, welcome to Quantum Leap."

THE END

   [1]: mailto:fourpaws@qnet.com



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